TORAHLEADERSHIP.ORG RABBI ARYEH KLAPPER HALAKHAH: A USER’S MANUAL Part 1: How is Halakhah Organized?

I. How is Halakhah Organized? 4 case studies a. Mishnah Berakhot 1:1, and gemara thereupon b. Support of the poor Peiah, Bava Batra, Matnot Aniyyim, Yoreh Deah) c. Conversion ?, Yevamot, Issurei Biah, Yoreh Deah) d. Mourning Moed Qattan, Shoftim, Yoreh Deiah)

Mishnah Berakhot 1:1 From what time may one recite the Shema in the evening? From the hour that the kohanim enter to eat their terumah Until the end of the first watch, in the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer. The Sages say: Until midnight. Rabban Gamliel says: Until morning.

It happened that his sons came from a wedding feast. They said to him: We have not yet recited the Shema. He said to them: If it has not yet morned, you are obligated to recite it.

Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 2a What is the context of the Mishnah’s opening “From when”? Also, why does it teach about the evening first, rather than about the morning? The context is Scripture saying “when you lie down and when you arise” (Devarim 6:7, 11:9). what the Mishnah intends is: “The time of the Shema of lying-down – when is it?” Alternatively: The context is Creation, as Scripture writes “There was evening and there was morning”.

Mishnah Berakhot 1:1 (continued) Not only this – rather, everything about which the Sages say until midnight – their mitzvah is until morning. The burning of fats and organs – their mitzvah is until morning. All sacrifices that must be eaten in a day – their mitzvah is until morning. If so, why did the Sages say “until midnight”? So as to distance a person from sinning.

Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 9a Had his sons not previously heard this opinion of Rabban Gamliel?! This is what the sons intended: Do the Rabbis disagree with you, and yachid v’rabbim halakhah k’rabim, or do they hold like you, and that which they said “until midnight” was to distance a person from sin?

Questions: 1. Does the strategy of setting an earlier deadline work if people know that it’s not really the law? (Jeff Spitzer) 3. What is the meaning of the yachid v’rabbim principle? What is its basis? 4. Why would it matter whether the Sages agreed with Rabban Gamliel in principle, if they disagreed with him in practice? (Rabbi Lamm)

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II. Types of Organization: A. Mnemonic/Pragmatic B. Sequential (correspondence, chronological, or causal) C. Substantive/Conceptual

III. Possible Frameworks 1. Chumash 2. Mishnah 3. Talmud 4. Rambam 5. Tur Shulchan Arukh 6. ARTSCROLL 7. Semikhah 8. Mitzvot 9. Chronology 10. Geography 11. Gender 12. Community/Identity 13. Types of law

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IV. Possible Frameworks (expanded edition) 1. Chumash a. Midr’shei Halakhah b. Sefer haChinnukh c. Torah Temimah d. Rabbi Frand, Rabbi Schachter 2. Mishnah A. Zeraim – blessings and agricultural taxes and laws of mixed kinds B. Moed – Shabbat and other calendar issues C. Nezikin – criminal procedure, civil procedure, torts, real estate, movables, Shevuot, Avodah Zarah, Avot D. Nashim – marriage, divorce, Nedarim E. Taharot - F. Kodshim 3. Talmud Bavli A. Berakhot B, Moed (except perhaps Shekalim) C. Nezikin D. Nashim E. Niddah F. Kodshim (beginning with Chullin = Kashrut) Zeraim almost disappears, as does Taharot, yet Kodshim? Note the Kodshim aspects of Pesachim, Yoma. Yerushalmi A. Zeraim B. Moed C. Nezikin – very very short D. Nashim E. Niddah F. ? 4. Rambam Mada = Avot? (Yesodei HaTorah, Deiot, Talmud Torah, Avodah Zarah, Teshuvah) Ahavah = Berakhot Zmanim = Moed Nashim = Nashim (גרות Kedushah – Chullin (Issurei Akhilah) + Issurei Biah (includes Haflaah – Shevuot, Nedarim Zeraim = Zeraim Avodah = Kodshim Korbanot = Kodshim Taharah – Taharot Nezikin = Bava Kamma KInyan – Bava Kamma and Bava Batra Mishpatim = Bava Metzia Shoftim – Sanhedrin Note that Bar Ilan reorganizes alphabetically!

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5. Tur Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayyim = Berakhot, Moed Magen Avraham, TAZ, MB, Arukh HaShulchan Yoreh Deah = Chullin, Avodah Zarah, Talmud Torah, Mezuzah, Kibbud Horim, Ribbit, Niddah, Nedarim, Shevuot, Kil’ayim, Aveilut, Matnot Aniyyim . . . Shakh, Taz Even HaEzer = Nashim Beit Shmuel, Chelkat Mechokek Choshen Mishpat = Nezikin SMA, SHaKH 6. ARTSCROLL 7. Semikhah Yoreh Yoreh Yadin Yadin Yatir Yatir 8. Mitzvot לא תעשה .vs עשה – SMAG Rambam - ? Sefer HaChinnukh – Chumash Yereim – Arayot Akhilot Issurei Hanaah Issurei Mammon רע לשמים ולבריות ואינו גוזל ונהנה ממון הנעשים בדיבור ורע לשמים ולא לבריות "..." ואינם תלוים בדיבור מפורסמות .vs שכליות Chukim vs. Mishpatim Universal vs. particularist (Derabannans?) 9. Chronology Chumash, Nakh, Tannaim, Amoraim, Rishonim, Acharonim, ? 10. Geography Israel vs. Diaspora 11. Gender Mishnah Kiddushin 1:7 כל מצות הבן על האב - אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות וכל מצות האב על הבן - אחד אנשים ואחד נשים חייבין וכל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמה - אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות וכל מצות עשה שלא הזמן גרמה - אחד אנשים ואחד נשים חייבין וכל מצות לא תעשה בין שהזמן גרמה בין שלא הזמן גרמה - אחד אנשים ואחד נשים חייבין חוץ מבל תשחית ובל תקיף ובל תטמא למתים: 12. Community/Identity (subdivide) Sefardic/Ashkenazi, Chassidic/Mitnagdic, Charedi/ModOrth, Zionist/Non 13. Types of law (differentiate from sources of law) Deoraita, Halakhah leMosheh MiSinai, Derabbanan, Neder, Minhag

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